It would be much easier to make the one-and-a-half hour drive to Grand Rapids than to drive four hours to Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit or the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor – the other facilities that perform transplants.

And it would make it easier for her husband, Brad, and her 8-year-old son, Colton, to visit, as well as for her parents and in-laws.

“With my son, obviously, it’s very important to be able to have him closer to me,” she said.

Purchase, 30, lives in Vestaburg, south of Mount Pleasant. She was 2 weeks old when she was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, a genetic disorder that causes mucus to build up in the lungs, digestive tract and other areas of the body. It can cause life-threatening lung infections.

“I’m doing OK,” she said. “My lung function is about 38 percent. But I’m at a point where there could be a turning point where I could need a transplant quickly. I could have one lung infection that could lead to ultimate lung failure.”

Spectrum announced recently that it has received approval from the United Network for Organ Sharing to list patients for lung transplants and expects to perform the first one within the next two months.

Purchase sees several doctors at Spectrum’s cystic fibrosis clinic, and she met Dr. Reda Girgis, the pulmonologist who is the medical director of the lung transplant program. If she needs a transplant, she likes the idea of having it at a hospital where she is familiar with the doctors.

Dr. Reda Girgis is the medical director for the lung transplant program at Spectrum Health.Emily Zoladz | MLive.com

But she’s not looking to rush into the surgery either. These days, she is able to manage her condition, though with a significant amount of medication and treatment.

She takes up to 30 pills and receives several breathing treatments every day. She has a chest vest that shakes her lungs to get the mucus out. She is on oxygen at night. And about every five to eight months, she is hospitalized for a couple of weeks because of infections that exacerbate the cystic fibrosis.

“She is still functional and getting around with day-to-day activities,” Girgis said. “Given the fact that outcomes with lung transplants are far from perfect, we want to reserve it for people who are a bit sicker than she is.”

In case she does get a transplant someday, Purchase has talked to others who have CF and are transplant recipients. It does not cure the disease – other organs still are affected – and it involves a new regimen of medications. But it can be a life-saving and life-changing event.

These days, doing laundry or vacuuming can leave her short of breath. She loves the idea of someday being able to go for a run, to breathe deeply without having spasms in her lungs.

“It’s a scary situation to go into,” she said. “But I like the thought of being able to breathe a full breath. I can’t lie and say I wouldn’t be thrilled to have that.

“Given that chance, even if it’s a small chance, that I may be able to do it at some point – that’s exciting to me.”